Fredrikstad Animation Festival is the oldest and largest of its kind in the Nordic region, dating back to 1994 and the festival Animerte Dager in Oslo, Norway.

The annual festival now takes place each October in the town of Fredrikstad, outside of Oslo. One of the cornerstones of the festival is the Nordic-Baltic animated short film competition.

The festival is a professional arena for the animation industry as well as an important event for students and educational institutions within animation, graphic design and digital media production.

Each year, top animation industry professionals hold seminars and lectures, and the festival has previously hosted guests from famous studios such as Pixar, Disney and Aardman.

Awards are given for:

- Best Nordic-Baltic Short Film
- Best Nordic-Baltic Feature Film
- Best Nordic-Baltic Student Film
- Best Nordic-Baltic Commissioned Film
- Best Nordic-Baltic Children's Film
- Best Nordic-Baltic Young Audience Film

- Grand Prix
- Audience Award
- Outstanding International Short Film Award

Regulations for the Nordic-Baltic Competition

NB: THE FESTIVAL ONLY ACCEPTS FILMS WITH A DIRECTOR FROM THE NORDIC-BALTIC COUNTRIES OR THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN OF THE FILM FROM A NORDIC OR BALTIC COUNTRY: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Sápmi and Åland Isands. All other films will be declined.

Ordinance

Fredrikstad Animation Festival (FAF) is organised by Norsk Animasjonsforum.
The object of the festival is to promote the screening of animation and increase the awareness of animated expressions in the Nordic-Baltic countries.

Fredrikstad Animation Festival's competition programme features the following categories:
Competition for best Nordic-Baltic animated short film (made by professional filmmakers, free artistic work)
Competition for best Nordic-Baltic animated student film
Competition for best Nordic-Baltic animated commissioned film (commercials, educational and scientific content, TV-series, music videos)
Competition for best Nordic-Baltic animated feature film

One Norwegian short film is chosen to compete in the nomination process for the Amanda award by the jury for the Nordic-Baltic short and student film categories.

Rules for Competition for Nordic-Baltic Animated short, student and commissioned film:

Any frame by frame or computer assisted film or video may be entered.
Maximum running time: 30 minutes.
Films must have been completed January 1st 2023 or after.
A film cannot enter the competition twice.
A film cannot enter the competition in several categories.
The director of the film must be a citizen of the Nordic and Baltic countries, or the country of origin of the film must be a Nordic or Baltic country.
The Nordic-Baltic countries are defined as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Greenland, Faro Island, Sápmi and Åland
The film’s producer is liable for all copyrighted material included in the film.
FAF will not accept responsibility for material published or screened without the proper authorisation of the material's copyright holder.

Competition for Nordic-Baltic Feature:

Any frame-by-frame or computer-assisted film or video may be entered.
The competition category is for films longer than 30 minutes.
Films must have been completed by 1 January 2023 or after.
A film cannot enter the competition twice.
A film cannot enter the competition in several categories.
The country of origin of the film must be a Nordic or Baltic country.
The Nordic-Baltic countries are defined as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Greenland, Faro Island, Sápmi and Åland. Junior co-produced films are not eligible.
The film’s producer is liable for all copyrighted material included in the film. FAF will not accept responsibility for material published or screened without the proper authorisation of the material's copyright holder.

Rules for Competition for International Short film:

Any frame by frame or computer assisted film or video may be entered.
Maximum running time: 30 minutes.
Films must have been completed January 1st 2023 or after.
A film cannot enter the competition twice.
A film cannot enter the competition in several categories.
The director of the film cannot be a citizen of the Nordic and Baltic countries, or the country of origin of the film cannot be a Nordic or Baltic country.
The Nordic-Baltic countries are defined as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Greenland, Faro Island, Sápmi and Åland.
The film’s producer is liable for all copyrighted material included in the film.
FAF will not accept responsibility for material published or screened without the proper authorisation of the material's copyright holder.

Deadline and submission

The submission opens 4 March 2024 and the deadlines are 17 June 2024 (short films) and 1 August 2024 (features).

The following material has to be submitted together with each submitted film:
If your film features non-English dialogue, please add subtitles. If that is not possible, include an English dialogue script (by e-mail to entry@animationfestival.no)

Submitting films is free of charge.

Transport and insurance

Digital file transfer is the preferred method for film logistics.
The entrant is responsible for transport, insurance and any other charges associated with the transport of physical media sent to the festival.
Fredrikstad Animation Festival is responsible for return transportation, storage and insurance of physical media whilst in the festival’s custody.
In case of loss or damage of a copy, the festival's obligation is limited to the replacement value.

Selection and screening

The pre-selection results will be announced in August 2024.

All films selected for the competition will be screened at FAF 2024. The festival administration may also select films for other programme sections.

Juries and awards will be presented on the festival website.

Standard screening format is DCP. For other formats, please contact the festival after pre-selections. Screening copies must arrive by 21 September at the latest.

By submitting your entry to Fredrikstad Animation Festival you are agreeing to occasionally be contacted by our organization. If you like to opt-out of these communications please email mail@animationfestival.no.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Fredrik Fottland

    Biggest and best animation festival in Norway! Great content and a super freindly crowd. 👍

    November 2023
  • Søren Fleng

    Fantastic festival focusing on the Nordics and Baltics. Small event where you can easily meet other participants. Many Nordic producers and creators visit the festival, so if you want to work with producers from the Nordics, FAF is the place to start your adventure!

    January 2023
  • Annika Giannini

    Thanks for a great festival and for having our film screened!

    November 2022
  • Dag-Erik Hansen

    A great festival over-all with a good and interesting programme each year. There are both films and talks/seminars from respected persons in the animation world. I was unfortunately not able to attend this year (2022) even though our film was screened, but all communication with the staff was very good and I know from previous years that it is always great. Nice location too!

    October 2022